National Police Chief Gen. Listyo Sigit Prabowo attends the launch of the vaccination for children’s independence at SDN 01 Mangga Dua Selatan, Sawah Besar, Central Jakarta, on Wednesday (5/1/2022). This activity was also held simultaneously in 30 provinces in Indonesia.
In his remarks, Gen. Sigit conveyed the acceleration of vaccination for children as well as a follow-up to President Joko Widodo’s (Jokowi) instructions who wanted Indonesian children to get protection from the threat of the Covid-19 virus. Especially now, a new variant of Omicron has appeared which has spread to hundreds of countries including Indonesia.
“Some time ago, the Preident has started to vaccinate children, and today we are determined that we can accelerate the policies and orders from the President, because we see the impact of the Omicron variant is quite worrying,” said Gen. Sigit.
The omicron variant, said Gen. Sigit, can transmit and infect someone who has been vaccinated. However, it is very mild for those who have been vaccinated. For this reason, he has accelerated vaccination, especially for children, it must be done, so that there is no fatality if exposed to the omicron variant.
Moreover, continued Gen. Sigit, face-to-face learning activities (PTM) have begun to be opened 100 percent. So that accelerated programs must be carried out to protect Indonesian children.
Gen. Sigit said that face-to-face learning activities (PTM) are 100 percent an important need for children. Because for almost two years of the pandemic, children have lost effective study time because learning is done online or remotely.
“So this is of course a challenge for us, how after the PTM we open and run smoothly, but on the other hand the children are protected because they have been vaccinated and of course how then can we take care of this activity (PTM) so it doesn’t create clusters,” said Gen. Sigit.
Furthermore, the former Police Chief of Criminal Investigation Unit invited all parties to synergize and jointly deal with the Omicron variant. Several things have been done, namely by strengthening entry points to the country, tightening health protocols and accelerating vaccinations.
In carrying out the vaccination of children, he asked all the time to speed it up. Because, vaccination is an effort to save Indonesian children from the Covid-19 virus attack.
“Our children are the generation that will fill important positions in 2045 because by 2030 we have the potential that 60 percent of our society will be in the productive age. To prepare superior human resources, like it or not, our children must be aware of the risk of the emergence of new variants or variants that will appear later. One of the things we do is to provide immunity with vaccines,” he said.
On this occasion, the former Banten Police Chief appreciated the hard work of colleagues, both health workers, health care supervisors and vaccinators who kept the Covid-19 number under control.
However, he also asked all parties to be vigilant and not be careless with the achievement of suppressing the Covid-19 rate which is currently good. For this reason, the four-star general asked to strengthen health protocols, enforce 3M, especially the use of masks and accelerate vaccination.
“Strengthening the process, enforcing 3M in particular wearing masks and accelerating this vaccination is our effort to really control Covid-19,” concluded Gen. Sigit.
